School of Medicine
Showing 401-450 of 469 Results
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Jane C. Tan
Professor of Medicine (Nephrology) and, by courtesy, of Surgery (Abdominal Transplantation)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research relates to issues pertaining to clinical kidney transplantation. We have ongoing studies on the following topics.
1. Renal senescence and kidney transplant, and chronic allograft nephropathy.
2. Living donor safety and response to uninephrectomy.
3. Biomarkers for post-transplant monitoring. -
Candice N. Thompson, MD, MSc, FACS
Clinical Assistant Professor, Surgery - General Surgery
BioDr. Thompson is a board-certified general surgeon and fellowship-trained breast surgical oncology. She is a clinical assistant professor of surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Medical Director for the Office of Cancer Health Equity. She is also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
Dr. Thompson clinical interests include treatment of women and men who have breast cancer, benign breast disease, genetic mutations, family history of breast cancer, or other breast cancer risk factors. Procedures performed by Dr. Thompson include lumpectomies (partial mastectomies) using oncoplastic techniques and hidden scar methods, skin- and nipple-sparing mastectomies, simple mastectomies with aesthetically flat closure, oncoplastic procedures, benign breast lesion excisions, axillary node dissections, and sentinel lymph node biopsies.
She completed a breast surgical oncology fellowship at Stanford University under the mentorship of one of the world’s foremost experts in the field. She completed her general surgery training at Georgetown University, where she was the co-administrative chief resident. She is passionate about equitable care and addressing healthcare disparities, especially in breast cancer.
Dr. Thompson works closely with medical oncology, radiation oncology, plastic surgery, genetics, and other breast cancer specialists in a multidisciplinary setting to provide high quality, evidence-based, and individualized care. Dr. Thompson is a strong advocate for patient education and empowerment and strives to deliver compassionate care to patients and their families.
Her research has focused on Nipple Sparing Mastectomies, Community Engagement for Breast Cancer in the Black Community, Immune responses during breast cancer treatment, and prognostic role of Circulating Tumor DNA (ctDNA) in the management of breast cancer. She also has strong research interests in community engagement, health disparities, oncoplastic surgical options, and cancer biomarkers. She has delivered presentations on a wide range of topics related to breast cancer at national and regional meetings including NRG Oncology, ASBrS, ASC.
For her scholarship and research achievements, Dr. Thompson has won numerous honors and awards. She has earned the resident teaching award during her chief year at Georgetown. She was awarded the Stanford Cancer Institute Clinical Innovation Fund Grant for her work in educating the Black Community about Breast Health and Breast Cancer (2022). She was also awarded the prestigious NCI Early-Surgeon Scientist Program (ESSP) Award to support her early career as a surgeon scientist(2024). She also serves on the AAS Academic Advancement Committee, NRG Oncology Surgical Oncology Committee, NCCN Breast Screening and Diagnosis Panel, and TOUCH Black Breast Advisor for Pink Table Talk.
Dr. Thompson is a member of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS), Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO), Society of Black Academic Surgeons (SBAS), Association of Women Surgeons (AWS), National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®), and American Medical Association (AMA).
Outside of work, Dr. Thompson enjoys pilates, tennis, baking, sewing, wine tasting, and traveling. -
Antonio Tomasso
Postdoctoral Scholar, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
BioAntonio Tomasso is an NWO Rubicon Postdoctoral Scholar. As part of his MSc in Medical Molecular and Cellular Biotechnology at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, he explored the immunomodulatory and neurotrophic roles of neural stem cells (NSCs) following spinal cord injury. As a Research Assistant at Karolinska Institute, he delved into the signaling pathways required for NSC activation and migration after spinal cord injury, and the limited regenerative abilities of mouse and human heart.
During his PhD, he investigated the molecular mechanisms of tissue regeneration in planarians, axolotls and spiny mice. He conducted research as a Visiting Fellow at the University of Kentucky and the Hubrecht Institute.
His research demonstrated that MAPK/ERK signaling acts as a molecular switch between regeneration and fibrosis in adult mammals and can be activated to stimulate a regenerative response, including new hair follicle formation, in scarring wounds.
He contributed to a pioneering study showing that spiny mice can recover heart function after infarct through enhanced angiogenesis, ECM remodeling and epicardium regeneration. He also played a key role in spatial transcriptomic studies that defined regenerative and fibrotic gene signatures in spiny mice, laboratory mice and gerbils.
He earned a PhD cum laude in Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine.
He has been awarded an NWO Dutch Research Council Rubicon Postdoctoral grant to conduct research on the molecular drivers of fibroblast activation in wound healing and organ fibrosis.
His ultimate research aim is to crack the code of tissue regeneration and rejuvenation, reversing organ scarring and preventing fibrosis in injuries and pathological conditions, through the identification of therapeutic targets for enhanced tissue repair and functional recovery.
Driven by his innate curiosity and passion for science, he loves tackling new challenges, thinking outside the box, and building interdisciplinary collaborations to push forward the boundaries of knowledge.
His career goal is to serve as a group leader, fostering a collaborative environment where everyone can thrive, achieve their goals and leave a lasting impact through community-building and scientific discoveries for the benefit of humankind. -
Kenneth Tran, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Surgery - Vascular Surgery
BioDr. Tran is a vascular surgeon in the Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Division at Stanford Health Care. He is also a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Vascular Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Dr. Tran’s clinical expertise includes the entire spectrum of vascular surgery, including minimally invasive strategies for aortic aneurysm repair and multiple methods of managing peripheral vascular disease. He also specializes in treating cerebrovascular disease (problems with blood flow in the brain) using carotid angioplasty and stenting, transcarotid artery revascularization, and conventional carotid surgery. In addition, Dr. Tran offers comprehensive dialysis access management and treats venous reflux (when leg veins fail to return blood to the heart).
Dr. Tran has a special interest in minimally invasive techniques for repairing complex aortic conditions using custom stents placed inside blood vessels (endografts). He has expertise in designing, fabricating, and implanting physician-modified endografts tailor-made to each patient’s unique aortic anatomy. This technique expands the ability to offer minimally invasive repair to more patients.
Dr. Tran’s research efforts focus on utilizing novel computational approaches to better understand and optimize blood flow patterns after complex aortic repair. This work has helped improve the understanding of how different types of aneurysm repair perform long term. Dr. Tran hopes to use these research findings to improve clinical outcomes for patients with aortic aneurysmal disease.
Dr. Tran has published his work in numerous prestigious peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Vascular Surgery, JAMA Surgery, and the European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. He has presented at the podium at numerous national and international conferences.
Dr. Tran has received multiple research awards, including the Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Society’s Medtronic Resident Research Award and Best Resident Presentation at the Swiss Society for Vascular Diseases. In addition, he received the Young Researcher Prize at the European Symposium on Vascular Biomaterials for his research related to complex aortic repair hemodynamics (blood flow). Dr. Tran also coauthored a chapter in the book Complications in Endovascular Surgery. -
Amber Trickey, PhD
Casual - Non-Exempt, Stanford-Surgery Policy Improvement Research and Education Center
BioAmber W. Trickey, PhD, MS, CPH, is a health services biostatistician working with the S-SPIRE Center. She supports multidisciplinary teams in research design, implementation, and analysis. Dr. Trickey obtained degrees in epidemiology and biostatistics, and certifications in public health and SAS data analysis. She has evaluated data quality in surgical and trauma care, supported multiple clinical trials, and led data validation studies using the ACS-NSQIP surgical registry and administrative claims. Dr. Trickey has contributed to public and private grants on surgical safety, healthcare quality metrics, simulation-based training, team communication, error disclosure, and emergency services.
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Jacqueline Tsai, MD, FACS
Clinical Associate Professor, Surgery - General Surgery
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research interests are focused on improving breast cancer surgeries. I am interested in novel techniques in surgery to improve cosmetic outcomes, minimize surgical re-excisions and possible augmented reality technologies to enhance surgery.
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William J. Vasquez McTeigue
Affiliate, Surgery - Vascular Surgery
BioWilliam Vasquez McTeigue is conducting research in the lab of Katherine Hekman, MD, PhD, RPVI, FACS, where he applies induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to develop regenerative therapies for peripheral artery disease. His work bridges vascular surgery and stem-cell biology, with the goal of advancing treatments for patients with critical limb ischemia and other vascular disorders.
Beyond his current research, William is interested in cardiovascular innovation and translational medicine, aiming to pursue a career at the intersection of surgery, engineering, and regenerative biology. -
Jenny Lymary Veliz-Urzua, DNP, FNP-BC
Affiliate, Surgery - General Surgery
BioJenny L. Veliz-Urzua, DNP, FNP-BC is Nurse Practitioner for GI Surgical-Oncology at Stanford Health Care Center. She graduated with her Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) degree from Yale University School of Nursing in 2006. Her area of clinical practice includes hepatobiliary, pancreas, gastrointestinal and peritoneal malignancies. She has worked closely with Dr. Byrne Lee, Program Director for Regional Cancer Therapies, to optimize HIPEC patient care experience.
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Banita Verma
Postdoctoral Scholar, General and Vascular Surgery
BioI am Banita Verma, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University, currently working with Dr. Fredrick M. Dirbas at the Department of Surgery. Our research focus is to understand the type of cell death and the nature of immune responses triggered by FLASH versus conventional radiotherapy in various murine breast cancer models. Additionally, we aim to explore the role of DAMPs released by dying cells in generating immune responses after both FLASH and conventional radiotherapy. Furthermore, we are interested in studying the mechanism behind the low toxicity of the FLASH compared to conventional radiotherapy to the adjacent non-cancerous tissue. To accomplish this goal, our laboratory is actively collaborating with Dr. Bill Loo, who holds great expertise in the field of radiation oncology.
Before joining Stanford University, I served as a postdoctoral researcher at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden from 2021-2023. My research aimed to study the activation mechanism of Cholineacetyltransferase (ChAT), a pivotal enzyme in acetylcholine synthesis. This enzyme is known to be hypoactive in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Our group successfully synthesized novel compounds capable of enhancing ChAT activity.
I completed my doctoral research in cancer biology at the Department of Experimental Medicine and Biotechnology, PGIMER Chandigarh, India, in 2021. My work was the evaluation of role of TNF-α mediated Necroptosis in breast cancer cells. My primary research interests are cancer biology and cell death pathways. -
Joshua Aaron Villarreal
Affiliate, Department Funds
Resident in SurgeryBioDr. Villarreal is a current clinical informatics fellow at Stanford Medicine and first surgical resident to enter the program. He began general surgery training at Stanford in 2020. Dr. Villarreal is a Texas native and hometown is in McAllen TX. He completed medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in 2020 and undergraduate studies in Human Biology at the University of Texas.
During residency, Dr. Villarreal has published numerous articles in a wide range of surgical fields including: pediatric surgery, liver transplantation, trauma critical care and surgical data science. He currently holds the role as president of the resident led surgical research group Surgeon’s Writing About Trauma (SWAT) and mentors medical students and undergrads in conducting surgical related clinical research. He is a member of the Artificial Intelligence in Surgery research group at Stanford focused on leveraging methods in machine learning in the care of transplant patients.
His long-term goals are to apply clinical informatics frameworks to optimize surgical care workflows, enhance intraoperative decision making, and increase accessibility of outpatient surgical services to lower income patients. -
Brendan C. Visser, MD
Professor of Surgery (General Surgery)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Visser's research interests span the breath of his clinical practice. Areas of active research include the multidisciplinary treatment of pancreatic neuroendocrine cancers, technical aspects of minimally invasive pancreatic and liver surgery, and trends in the management of hepatobiliary cancers in California, focusing on socioeconomic and instituional barriers to appropriate care.
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Todd Wagner, PhD
Professor (Research) of Surgery (Surgery Policy Improvement Research and Education Center) and, by courtesy, of Health Policy
BioTodd Wagner, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Surgery at Stanford University. He studies health information, efficiency and value, and health care access. He is particularly interested in developing learning health care systems that provide high value care. In addition to his role at Stanford, he Directs the Health Economics Resource Center at the Palo Alto VA and co-directs the VA Center for Policy Evaluation. At VA, he is funded as a Research Career Scientist and he co-directs the VA/NCI Big Data Fellowship.
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James Wall
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsHealth Technology Innovation
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Irene Wapnir, MD
Professor of Surgery (General Surgery)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsClinical trials in operative procedures such as Nipple-sparing mastectomy, arm lymphatic mapping, skin perfusion and Treatments for Breast Cancer, especially local recurrence. Dr. Wapnir is institutional Principal Investigator and Chair for National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP) clinical trials. Laboratory and translational research includes exploring the activity of breast iodide transporter in breast cancer brain metastasis.
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Thomas G Weiser, MD, MPH
BioDr. Thomas Weiser is a general, emergency, and trauma surgeon, and surgical intensivist. He treats and cares for injured patients and those with acute surgical emergencies as well as manages critically ill surgical patients in the Intensive Care Unit.
His research has focused on evaluating the role surgical care plays in the delivery of health services in resource poor settings, in particular low and middle income countries. He is interested in barriers to access and provision of surgical care, the quality of surgical services, and outcomes research as well as the science of implementation, how improvements can be made, and how to strengthen compliance with best practices and change behaviors for the better. He also has an interest in domestic policy as it relates to trauma outcomes, trauma systems, insurance coverage and costs of care, and firearm violence.
Dr. Weiser's efforts have led to improvements in the safety and reliability of surgical service, the quality of surgical care delivered globally, and improvements team dynamics, function, and communication. He works closely with Lifebox, a nonprofit focused on improving surgical and anesthetic safety worldwide, where he was previously the Consulting Medical Officer. Lifebox delivers programs throughout the world in combination with local partners and includes the procurement and distribution of low cost devices to improve the safety of care (including pulse oximeters for the routine monitoring of patients undergoing anesthesia and surgical headlights to safeguard care during power outage) and Clean Cut, a surgical infection prevention and control program that has reduced complications by up to 50%. This work safeguards millions of surgical patients every year.
From 2006-2009, he was part of the World Health Organization’s Safe Surgery Saves Lives program where he quantified the global volume of surgery and created, implemented, evaluated, and promoted the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist. He was part of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery, the World Bank Disease Control Priorities Program, and a Gates Grand Challenge awardee.
From 2022-2026 he was the Program Director of Surgery: Assess/Validate/Expand (SAVE) at Wellcome Leap. His current research efforts aim to accelerate computer vision models for quantifying surgical performance and identifying mechanisms to predict patient recovery trajectories following surgery. -
Ian Whitmore
Professor (Teaching) of Surgery (Anatomy)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe development of better regimes for teaching Anatomy using Cadavers.
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Tamara Winston
Administrative Division Director, Surgery - Pediatric Surgery
BioM.P.A, NDNU
M.S. Management, NDNU
B.A. Political Science/Business Administration, SJSU -
Clay P. Wiske, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Surgery - Vascular Surgery
BioDr. Wiske is a vascular surgeon in the Vascular and Endovascular Care program at Stanford Health Care. He is also a clinical assistant professor of surgery in the Department of Surgery, Division of Vascular Surgery. Dr. Wiske manages and treats the full spectrum of vascular disease, performing both open and endovascular surgery.
His clinical interests include peripheral arterial disease, venous disease, dialysis access, and aortic and peripheral aneurysms. Additionally, he has helped develop and evaluate medical devices designed to maximize the ease of treatment and limit the invasiveness of specific interventions.
Dr. Wiske has published research on a variety of topics within vascular surgery. These include the best approaches to reduce the risk of stroke associated with carotid surgery and the impact of using multidisciplinary teams to identify and treat pulmonary embolisms. Dr. Wiske has also participated in studies assessing the pace of innovation in vascular surgery, as well as policy approaches to reducing the financial burden of health care on patients.
Dr. Wiske has published his work in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Journal of Vascular Surgery, and Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. He has also been an invited guest speaker at national and international meetings, including those for the Society for Vascular Surgery, American Venous Forum, and the Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Society. -
Sherry M. Wren, MD, FACS, FCS(ECSA), FISS
Professor of Surgery (General Surgery)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur research interests are primarily in global surgery,robotics,surgical oncology, especially gastrointestinal cancers.
